When Annette Vogt and Brian Foote’s 30-year-old son Brad was accepted into Mountain View Home two years ago, they were overjoyed.
“When we had an opportunity to go to Mountain View it was like an answer to a prayer,” said Foote.
The facility, operating since 1986, provides 25 mental health licensed care beds in an idyllic rural setting in the community of Yarrow.
Now, Brad and 24 other patients know the clock is ticking on their time at Mountain View. Fraser Health Authority has notified the home their funding will be terminated, and by August 8, 2016, all residents will be relocated.
“I was shocked, I was heartbroken. We’ve come to feel so confident in Mountain View’s ability to care for our son and provide him with stability that it starts to feel like we’re going to go down of disruption,” said Vogt.
Brad, who has schizo-affective bipolar disorder, has been offered a place at a new 50-bed mental health facility being built on Marshall Road in Abbotsford – but his parents say it’s too urban of an environment.
“It’s a busy location. It’s between a busy road of Marshall and the highway. I can’t see how that’s conducive to healing and stability,” said Vogt.
“I’m happy that there’s new facility coming up in Abbotsford, I think it’s very needed. I’m not happy this is appearing to come at the expense of closing a facility that works very well.”
Licensed Care vs. Assisted Living
Foote and Vogt are one of many family’s dismayed by the closure of licensed, full-time care beds in Abbotsford. The closing of Mountain View will be the second licensed mental health facility closed in the Fraser Valley, following the 2012 closure of Sunrise, a 30-bed residential facility.
Global News first highlighted the issue last week, with the story of a Chilliwack couple dismayed that their son, Barry Johnson Jr., would have to leave the facility.
WATCH: Two mental health facilities in Abbotsford are closing. John Hua explains where patients will go, and why families say not enough is being done.
Following the story, Fraser Health published an open letter to address what it implied was “misinformation” provided in our story.
“We are, in fact, increasing the number of mental health beds in the community as well as the range of services our clients can access,” they wrote in the letter.
“We are not only providing more capacity, we are also providing care that is better suited to our clients.”
And that is true. When the new Marshall Road facility opens in the summer of 2016, they will create 30 Licensed Care Beds, 20 Assisted Living beds and 18 Supported Independent Living beds to replace the 55 Licensed Care Beds at Sunrise and Mountain View.
But there are differences between the types of beds. Licensed Care offers 24-hour staffing by a registered nurse and higher regulations. Assisted Living only offers 24-hour staff, but at reduced levels, and often with support staff instead of registered nurses. And Supported Independent Living is based on living in the community, with support ranging from once a day to every two weeks.
It means that while there were 86 Licensed Care beds in Abbotsford in 2006, there will be just 64 when Mountain View closes and Marshall Road opens. A decade ago, they projected a need for 90 beds by 2016.
“What we are doing is matching clients or residents needs to the form of housing that best suits them, and maximizes their independence,” says Andy Libbiter, Executive Director for Mental Health and Substance Use at Fraser Health.
A licensed bed cost Fraser Health $36,000 on average in 2006, and Libbiter acknowledges they are the most expensive option. But he says the changes reflect both the growing diversity in how mental illness is treated, and how patients can progress.
“People with mental illness need different forms of support, and now with modern treatment, often people recover from mental illness. We have people that often do need 24-hour licensed care, but they’re able to progress in time to a less intrusive forms of housing and have more independence. It’s not uncommon for someone to be living in 24-hour licensed care and later move to more autonomy, more independence, in supported independent living.”
He does acknowledge that licensed care is the most expensive, but is adamant that doesn’t factor into decisionmaking by Fraser Health.
“None of these changes are about cost or cost reduction. It’s not a question of cost, it’s matching housing need to what the client or consumer actually wants.”
WATCH: Shrinking resources for mental health care
On Monday, Global News asked Fraser Health three questions:
- Why is there a reduction of licensed mental health beds in Abbotsford?
- How is this justified despite projections of a growing need?
- Are the number of licensed beds falling across the Fraser Health network?
Despite writing an open letter and appearing on camera Friday, Fraser Health’s Libbiter released a statement Monday, not addressing the reduction of licensed beds.
In it, he writes:
“Residential care is one option on the mental health housing continuum of care…we are investing in Mental Health Assisted Living as it fills a much needed gap in the service continuum.”
But Annette Vogt and Brian Foote say their son needs licensed care – and they worry what will happen if everyone at Mountain View are in the same situation.
“If all the residents ended up moving to the new facility, the new facility would almost be full. And we still need more beds. So it seems shortsighted to close such a well-functioning facility only to have to create more beds in the future.”
It means that families with adult children at Mountain View will continue to worry what the future holds.
“This is a reduction,” says Patrick Newby, Mountain View’s Care Director.
“They’re displacing people’s homes. This isn’t a facility where people are housed, this is their home.”
– With files from John Hua and Paula Baker
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